Why Having a Mentor When Starting Your Business is More Important than a Co-Founder

Research has shown that a lot of people embark upon their business venture without a mentor. This could be because of how humans try to find instant gratification and would rather make foolish decisions instead of asking for help. They work hard to find a co-founder for their business but not hard to find a mentor.

Tony Park is an author, academic, entrepreneur and mentor. A very coveted one, at that. He co-authored an international best-selling book “Ignite Your Life” and has built $50 million worth of businesses over the past 40 years. He has been involved in industries of all kinds ranging from logistics, retail, aged care, marketing, tourism etc. and is clearly one of the best mentors you can take assistance from. Wisdom comes from mentors and successful individuals like Tony Park and that’s why we want to encourage young entrepreneurs to take mentorship seriously.

The most coveted titans in the tech industry have founders who had mentors. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg was mentored by Apple’s Steve Jobs. Jobs was mentored by Mike Markkula — an early investor and executive at Apple. And Eric Schmidt mentored Larry Page and Sergey Brin of Google.

The following are 3 reasons why having a mentor is important.

1. Gain The Kind Of Experience Not Shared In Books

Experience is vital for the long-term success of a business and you can’t find every answer to the thousands of questions in your mind, no matter how many books you read. It is a commonly known fact that authors feel uncomfortable sharing every single hardship that they have experienced themselves in the book because it might just be embarrassing or intimate. However, these little personal experiences can help shape up a young entrepreneurial career from the very beginning. Hence, having a mentor to guide will give you much more experience than the others.

2. You’re More Likely To Succeed With A Mentor

In a 2013 executive coaching survey, 80% of the CEOs in the study admitted that they couldn’t have gotten this far without some kind of mentorship. In fact, in another research by Sage, 93% of startups revealed that the guidance of a mentor is crucial for success.

Your business’ chances of thriving in life and in business can be magnified if you have the right mentor. The potent connections, advice, occasional checks coupled with the ethical and spiritual guidance you will gain from a mentor will trampoline you to success.

3. Network Opportunities

Any successful mentor has a large number of people who can benefit your career. Considering that they are investing their time and money for your success, it would only be fair that they also let you in on the contacts they have made over the years.

According to SBA, 30 percent of new businesses have a solid chance of not surviving past the first 24 months, and 50 percent of those might not go further than five years. On the other hand, 70 percent of mentored businesses survive longer than five years.